Playing with Aunt Jamie

Raking the masses of leaves while Andy and I bagged on the side of the house. A fun bench at the Arboretum.

Completely together...

It was a beautiful cold day!

Thanks for playing with us!!!

Playing Dress Up

A friend passed on some fabulous dress ups for the girls. Annie LOVES the Sleeping Beauty outfit and Emily loves whatever Annie will let her wear. :) They are blowing kisses here.

Family Vacation

We didn't really take a family vacation until the last week of the year and went to spend the after-Christmas holidays in Phoenix with Grandma and Grandpa Maas. Our last night we found time to swim a bit in the hot tub. (both pools at our hotels were broken) I love this just random sweet picture. The weather was INCREDIBLE, and the kids had a great time playing outside every moment they could!

Uncle David brought a cooler full of snow, so we had a snowball fight in 75 degree weather; it was fabulous!!!

This was the sweetest Christmas picture. Annie LOVES her jammies from Aunt Christina, but David got the big hug.

David brought down some helicopters that won't fly up north, but I could never tell who had more fun flying them...

We spent a great afternoon at Rawhide - a real western town that is a MUST if you are ever in the Phoenix area!!!

Waiting for the train...

Ben and Annie each picked one ride; Annie chose the train. Ben chose the Burro ride (of course!).

We spent another day at the Zoo, which I completely LOVED!!!

Emily learned to get shoulder rides from either Dad or Uncle David by patting herself on the head. Her sweet little legs carried her most of the way around the zoo.

I am a total sucker for snow cones. In high school I worked at a popcorn store that also sold the BEST snow cones, and I would make a grape/coconut snow cone most afternoons. It was heaven! Only one other time have snow cones been that good. These definitely didn't have the most flavor, but I couldn't be the best judge as mine was quickly swiped...

Our last day we did a stuffed animal factory tour and a candy making factory tour. Both were fabulous! The kids got to make breakfast, and we all had several samples!

We also did a little family hike on The Mormon Trail. The kids did awesome!!! Annie totally kept up with Ben, which shocked me. I now call her my little mountain lion.

Family picture at almost our Family Peak - we didn't make the entire trail, but we were happy with where we got to!

This is the Pirate Tree - so named by my little explorers. This tree created many hours of fun outside play; I would love to have brought it home!

The End! Thanks all for the fabulous vacation! We had a wonderful time and can't wait to compile all the pictures together...someday!

Christmas Morning

This posted backwards! Grrrr!!! This was at my parents house around noon. We'd already had a huge waffle breakfast and a rousing game of Dodge Ball. Growing up, my dad always hands out the presents one by one. Annie got a complete baby set, which she loves. So does Emily. And Ben! And the friends who have come over to play...

The kids had such a fabulous morning; it's so heartwarming to see...

Andy read the Christmas story to us all on Christmas morning. The night before, Ben was so worriedthat Santa Clause would come while he was awake and not stop at our house; we didn't even put out cookies and milk! They just went to bed; kind of disappointing for me...

BYU Football

Wow! Just read some headlines and was a little bit shocked. Apparently BYU's first football game next season is against Oklahoma. That would be OU - the #1 ranked team at the moment. Not only that, they are playing in the Dallas Cowboys brand spanking-new stadium in Arlington, over Labor Day weekend!

Me thinks we might need to wait another year to go to school...

And yes, I have about a thousand other things to post for the last three weeks. Soon...as soon as Christmas is put away!

Ben told me today he wants to be a Librarian when he goes up so he can just read books to kids each day.

We LOVE Santa's Village

We finally scheduled in our family night to Santa's Village that the city puts on. It is so fun for the kids - and us too! We took pizza went around 5:15 and ate there. We didn't want to wait forever for the Santa line which is long to the extreme if you wait much after 5:30 to get in! We didn't get a family picture because the kids were T-I-R-E-D, so I insisted on at least one with me in it! Annie trying on a fireman's coat. Ben came in with us, but that was way too far into his personal space!

I pretty much fell in love with this sweet little puppy! It easily would have fit into my hands! Available for adoption on 12/21!!!

Ever since our first time (two years ago), Annie has loved Frosty the Snowman! She saw him walk out of his house and ran to give him the biggest hug!!!

This is the REAL Santa! He's been the same one for the last 3 years and looks awesome! Emily wasn't so excited about sitting on a strange man's lap...but she did get candy from him!

Annie got to be a reindeer and pull the sleigh.

I love the sweet sibling pictures!!!

Annie couldn't get enough of this kitty. See any similarities???

Emily was very concerned watching the kittens wrestle with one another. She feels the same way when anyone is wrestling. That's how I normally escape being tickled because Emily gets very concerned and comes to save me.

While Mom is Away...

I took home a babysitter the other afternoon and returned to find my family in the chair... Sunday afternoon Ben and I were reading books. I heard a noise in the living room. It didn't sound super important, so we finished our book before going to check it out. Somehow both the adult and the kid Christmas trees were laying on the ground! I called out a couple of times for Annie to come help clean up (Emily was having a nap), but she didn't come. I found two of my ornaments were broken. :( Ben helped me pick it up, and then we went to find Annie. When she does something naughty, she normally hides (we're trying to break that habit). We found her in the office...under the desk...asleep.

Hesitation

Ben has been after me for at least a week to decorate for Christmas. He is SOOOO excited to put up the trees. He LOVES Christmas! So, this afternoon, I took a deep breath and got the tubs out of the garage to put away Thanksgiving. Ben and Annie helped me dust (which unfortunately only occurs when we change decorations) throughout the house. Since we don't normally put up any Christmas anything until Andy comes home because the decorations are so high up, it was a real treat that I was able to slide the trees out.

We have two Christmas trees; one is small and all ornaments can be touched, the other is Mom's and Dad's and is not touchable. While I was putting on Journey (somehow the Christmas CD from the other night is missing), Ben got a knife and opened both boxes - without me knowing. He is so quick to just do what needs to be done! :( :) (mixed feelings there) I told him it was his job to do the kids' tree and he got right to work! Then he helped me with the bigger tree because each branch goes in separately.

As much as I have been dreading this because it is normally very chaotic - this year it was really fun! No one was too naughty, and we just had a great time! I think it helped that we were only working on the tree and not the decorations at the same time. It only took us 7 Journey songs to put both trees together! Thankfully we ended just before Cyberchase came on because my patience was waning.

Thanksgiving

My brother and his family drove to Texas from St.George and we had a great time! His two older daughters took turns sleeping at our house, putting the kids to bed and playing with me. And yes, I AM smarter than a 5th grader! We were kind of dragging one night, so we turned on some music and danced around Grandma's living room. This is my brother and his oldest daughter.

Ty is just a few months older than Annie and they had SO MUCH FUN playing together. Each meal that we ate as a large family necessitated Annie and Ty next to each other "eating."

Cutie Trevor has this little flirty grin that I ADORE! I was so glad that when we said goodbye on Thanksgiving night he finally bestowed me with a sweet kiss!

Uncle Roy left his Wii at Grandma's house. Everyone learned more about taking turns, but this turn was my favorite! Both little faces are so intense, and their entire bodies got a workout!

We took my first trip to Sam Moon. WOW!!!! That place is amazing! I think Andy will be giving me some money to shop there for my Christmas gift! The kids had quite a bit of fun playing with the accessories, so Emily, Annie, and I cut out early!

The kids love to climb Grandma's little tree in front of her house! Looking at these two, I would say the Taylor family genes are quite strong!

A bit of family fun

I have just completed my first piano practice session! wow - it feels good, but my hands are tired and don't want to type. However, I don't want to get blasted for lack of posting. I must confess two weeks ago I joined Facebook and haven't been the same since. :) My blog is suffering greatly! However, Andy has also been home A LOT lately (like for breakfast and dinner), so we've all been so happy and just had a lot of fun! (and my kitchen/living room has now stayed clean for 5 consecutive days!!! I seriously don't think that has EVER happened before except when we are on vacation! :) I have a helpful and happy husband!)

Now - to the details. Emily has this obsession with soap. She loves it. She likes to carry it around, she likes to push it in Tupperware, she will walk it in the stroller, and yes, she also likes to eat it. I don't understand, but we've finally decided it's time to lock the soap up in the medicine cabinet so we don't lose any more bars! She is so funny about it! This was her outfit today. We were supposed to wear yellow yesterday (I remembered Monday night but it slipped while I was sleeping!) but did it today instead. :) Along with her regular clothes, Emily insisted on this beautiful skirt. She wore it to my moms' club meeting, to her Nursery leader's house, and I carefully pulled it off while she was dozing for her nap. It is right next to her crib now so she can put it on in the morning. What a joy she is! I think I have finally found my favorite age!!!

Rub a dub; 3 kids in a tub!

Sunday was a beautiful day, so we spent time outside doing sidewalk paint!

While Andy and I cleaned up the kitchen Sunday night, the kids got out the puppets. They do amazingly creative things with the coffee table, but this night was great! There was a clean crib sheet sitting on the couch that was folded up and waiting to be put away. Ben decided it would make a great stage! Yes, it does!

I always love my little family, but the last week or so we've had so much fun together! We've been able to play games after jammies are on. Andy or I take a few minutes before Ben each night to work with Ben on reading while the other one has a little alone time with Annie. It's been so nice and peaceful around our house lately, especially when we are able to play Primary songs quietly in the background! I LOVE IT!!!